the hillholder - Studebaker Clubs

Sisters Sarah STUDEBAKER [C762],
1822-1901, and Elizabeth STUDEBAK-
ER [C767], 1829-1909, probably
could not have imagined that some of
their descendants would create a
tangled web of marriages that would
confound Studebaker genealogists
and/or family reporters in later years.
Earlier research published in The
Studebaker Family in America, (vol. I:
406, 407; vol. III; 325) regarding
descendants of the two sisters contains
obvious errors.
More importantly, the published
data on these descendants falls short
in identifying the particulars and in
emphasizing the entanglement. This
all came to light during the genealogy
computerization project. Recent
research by this author to rectify has,
hopefully, identified and brought together
the pieces of a relatively
complex marriage puzzle
*****************************************
WARNING: Readers are strongly encouraged
to study the accompanying
chart while perusing the following narrative
about this 20 th century marriage
puzzle that had roots in the 19 th century.
*****************************************
Sarah STUDEBAKER [C762] married
Philip A. WELCH in 1839. They had
four known children; three lived to
adulthood and married. On daughter
Margaret Rebecca WELCH {C762-3]
married twice. Her first marriage in
1862 was to Lafayette VIOLETT, a
physician and member of a large and
prominent family of early settlers to
Elkhart County, Indiana. He and Margaret
had two sons before his early
demise at age 30 in Syracuse,
Kosciusko County, Indiana where they
were living. One son apparently died
young. The other, previously identified
only as “John,” is now known to have
lived a long life. Now documented,
John W. VIOLETT [C762-31] is
accorded a place among the 6 th generation
descendants of the immigrant
Page 12
Sandra A. Studebaker, MSLS [C343-722-2]
Margaret’s second marriage in
1875 was to George Crawford MOR-
GAN, a widower with two surviving
sons from his first marriage. George
was a child of three in 1833 when the
Morgan family became the second
white family to settle in northwestern
Indiana in what would become Porter
County two years later. Together,
George and Margaret raised four
more children on their Westchester
Township farm. Their youngest,
Bennett Bostwick MORGAN [c762-36],
a hardware merchant in Chesterton,
Porter County, also married twice.
After the death of his first wife, following
a long marriage, Bennett married
his second cousin Gertrude Merle
MOHLER [C767-41] in 1970. He was
age 85, she was 83.
It was also Gertrude’s second marriage.
Her previous, and apparently
first, marriage in 1945, at age 57, was
to Alexander George IRONSIDE. Born
in Scotland, Alexander was a successful
businessman and owner of Ironside
Monument Works (later South Bend
Monument Works), and a widower.
He had been married to Gertrude’s
first cousin Anna Elizabeth KOPCSAY
[C767-31] for 36 years prior to her
death in 1944. Anna, or Elizabeth as
she was more often referenced, was
the only issue of Leah Elizabeth
WITWER [C767-3] and Joseph
KOPCSAY. Joseph had immigrated
from Hungary as a young man and
settled in South Bend, Indiana where
he worked for the Studebaker com
pany for 45 years as a carriage builder
and designer.
“Mrs. Gertrude [Mohler] Ironside
Morgan, 87, formerly of 1617 Hamilton
died Tuesday evening [30 Sep
1975] in the Cardinal Nursing Home
after a long illness.” Gertrude Merle
MOHLER had been with her widowed
father in Joliet, Illinois during his final
years, had outlived her siblings and
two husbands, and had no children.
One wonders who was there for
THE HILLHOLDER OCTOBER 2012
Her concise, but informative, obituary
in the South Bend Tribune lists only
one survivor, niece Mrs. Jean Craig
of El Paso, Texas. However, there
may have been other extended family
as Gertrude, daughter of John Monroe
MOHLER and Maria Ada WITWER
{C767-4], was part of the large
Witwer family.
Maria Ada WITWER [C767-4] and
Leah Elizabeth WITWER [C767-3],
both daughters of Elizabeth STUDE-
BAKER [767] and Rev. George WIT-
WER, had seven prominent
brothers–which is another interesting
story. One of the brothers, George
Mohler WITWER [C767-6], was also a
part of the tangled web of marriages.
George, lont-time personal secretary
for John Mohler “J.M.” Studebaker of
wagon and automotive fame, married
Mary Elizabeth VIOLETT. She was
a first cousin of the newly documented
John W. VIOLETT [C762-31], who
was a grandson of Sarah
STUDEBAKER [C762]. This, if the
reader is still with me, brings us full
circle in this narrative about the marriage
puzzle created by descendants
of sisters Sarah STUDEBAKER [C762]
and Elizabeth STUDEBAKER [C767].
NOTE 1: Many of the individuals
involved in this tangled web of marriages
are identified in a group
photograph taken in 1927 at Tippecanoe
Place in South Bend, Indiana
during the 75 th anniversary of the
founding of the Studebaker company.
(See The Studebaker Family in
America, vol. I:106.)
NOTE 2: A rough draft of the accompanying
chart was a necessary visual
aid in establishing interrelationships,
Connecting the pertinent individuals
in the electronic database, and,
especially, in comprehending the
complex web of cousin marriages.
Hopefully, it will also help present
and future generations follow the trail
of some earlier Studebaker cousins.#